Fastening device.



No. 698,57L Patnted Apr. 29, I902.

' c. E. SMITH.

FA STENING DEVICE.

(No Model.)

A flare/(cal: $125172, J y W 3% xy Z UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE E. SMITH, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE NORTH &JUDD MANUFACTURING COMPANY OF NEW BRITAIN, CON- NECTICUT, A CORPORATIONOF CONNECTICUT.

ift sTENmc DEVICE."

srnorrronrron forming part of Letters Patent No. 698,571, dated. April29, 19oz.

Application filed February 19, 1902. Serial No. 94,7181 (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, CLARENCE E. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at New Britain, county of Hartford, State of Connectiout, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvementsin FasteningDevices,of whichthe following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a fastening device,

and while especially applicable for use on horse-clothing it may be usedto advantage as applied to articles of personal wearing-apparel-e. g.,belts.

Among the main objects of my invention I 5 are simplicity and durabilityof construction,

efl'ectiveness, and ease of operation.

The purpose of the invention is mainly to provide a simple andinexpensive and efieetive fastening formed of two parts, one of 26 whichmay be engaged with the other in such manner that both are held fromaccidental disengagement.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation Fig. 2 is an eleva of one ofthe members. e 5 tion of the other member. Fig. 3 is an elevation of thetwo members shown in Figs. 1 and 2, said members appearing in theposition in which they are first placed while connecting them together.Fig. 4 is an elevation showing the two members connected with oneanother. Fig. 5 is an edge View of the members as shown in Fig. 4.

The fastening device comprises two members, each of which is in the formof a hook having a plurality of hook-bills. A is a loop or othersuitable means to secure the one member to thegarment. This memberincludes,besides the loop A,the hooks B B, having theoutwardly-extending bills 0 b b. The bends are made so that these billsare located in practically the plane of the shank of the hookand areoppositely arranged, as clearly seen in the drawings. The extremities ofthe bills are preferably bent outwardly, as shown, to facilitate the.engaging of the parts in the manner hereinafter described. The shanks ofthe bills I? I) lie closely together, but are preferably not socuredtogether, and consequently they may spring apart for the purposehereinafter de scribed.

C is a loop or other suitable means for fastening the other member tothe garment, and the other member comprises not only the eye or loop C,but also the peculiarly-shaped hooks D D. The hook-shanks D Darebentinwardly and then away from each other, as shown in Fig. 2, and the endsare not only turned up to form the bills (1 d, but they are 'also turnedinwardly before being turned into the bills, so as to form a compoundcurve, one of said curves lyingin ahorizontal plane, while the planedetermined-by the bill of each hook is perpendicular to said horizontalplane, or practically so.

By the double arrangement of books upon each of the members and byforming the member A of spring metal and proportioning the space betweenthe bills 01 d properly with respect to the spaces Within the hooks -B Bwhen the parts are being placed together the hooks D D tend to separatethe hooks B B, while the tendency of the bills (1 d is also -to separatethe bills b b away from their shanks B B. This action produces atensionbetween the parts,which tends to prevent anyloose play and aids inholding the parts together. By extending the hookbills (1 d outwardlyaway from each other at an angle, as seen in the drawings, these billsdd act as a wedge. Consequently the members cannot be disengaged untilthey are swung upon the axis conventionally illustrated by the line X X,Fig. 4:. This swinging of one member upon the other upon this axiscauses the hook-bills d d to gradually become freed from engagement withthe hooks B B by the spreading action of the hooks d g) 51,31 161 by thecompressing action of the hooks The parts are assembled by placingthemin the position shown in Fig.3, in which the bills 61 d of the hooks onone member. lieadjacent the entrance-passage into the hooks B B upon theother member. The space between the bills b b is less than the spacebetween the hooks on the other member. Consequently the shanks yieldsufficiently to let hooks B B D D are snapped into the engagement shownin Fig. 4, wherein for the reasons hereinbefore stated accidentaldisengagement is practically impossible.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a fastening device in combination, a pair of hook members one ofsaid members providing two oppositely-arranged hooks having free endsand lying in the same plane, the width of the entrance-passage betweensaid hooks being less than the Width of the holding-pocket within saidhooks, the other member carrying two hooks lying in different planesfrom the plane of the fastening device and from each other, the saidhooks being offset and inclined at an angle to produce an opening-wedge.

2. In a fastening device in combination, a pair of hook members each ofsaid members being provided with a pair of free -ended hooks, each ofthe hook-bills on one member being located in substantially the sameplane relatively to the shank portion thereof, the

width of the entrance-passage between said hooks being less than thewidth of the hold ing-pocket within said books, the other of saidmembers being provided with a pair of hookbills projecting laterally outof the plane common to the hook-shanks and inclining away from eachother to form an opening-wedge to the other member.

v 3. A fastening device comprising two hook members adapted to coactwith each other, one of said members having shanks, tending to springtoward each other,curved outwardly and the ends bent back, the width ofthe entrance-passage between said hooks being less than the width of theholding-pocket within said hooks, the other of said members havingshanks provided with free-ended bills, curved outwardly and the endsbent up and offset from the common plane of said shanks, so as to makeit necessary to separate the ends of said first member when disengagingthe two.

4.. A fastening device comprising a pair of hook members adapted tocoact with each other, one of said members having shanks curvedoutwardly and the ends bent back, the width of the entrance-passagebetween said hooks being less than the width of the holding-pocketwithin said hooks, the other of, said members having shanks whose endsare bent upwardly and outwardly, the two members being so proportionedthat the ends of the first member are caused to be sprung outwardly whendrawing the two members together and then will spring back to securelylock the two together, the ends of each pair of books being free.

Signed at New Britain, Connecticut, this 17th day of February, 1902.

' CLARENCE E. SMITH.

Witnesses:

DANA L. VIBBERTS, FRANCIS MCDONOUGH.

